Bathurst MP to push for more nurses

Nurses have held talks with the local state MP to ask for his support to lobby the Western Local Health District board.

They want an extra nurse on each shift in the emergency department to cope with a rising number of seriously ill patients.

The Member for Bathurst Paul Toole says while this type of issue is up to the board, if discussions are not successful he will appeal to the health minister.

"The local health district boards were set up to be able to make the local decisions for the needs for each of those communities," he said.

"What we need to do is have the discussions with the LHD board initially, and if we go nowhere from there then certainly I'll be raising it with the minister to see if there are any other avenues for the nurses in relation to this matter."

Nurses have presented a letter to the Western Local Health District board outlining their demands and want a reply by the end of the week.

"The nurses are claiming that it's an unreasonable workload being put on them at the moment due to the additional patients that have been coming through the doors over the years and that they've received no additional staff," Mr Toole said.

"What I'm going to do on behalf of the nurses now is actually raise this directly with the chairman of the LHD board and to see if anything can happen in relation to this matter."